HE'S been described as the missing link between Bryan Ferry and Jarvis Cocker and this month he'll be gracing the stages of GuilFest alongside Mr Ferry himself.

Martin Fry shot to fame in the 80s as lead vocalist of new wave/synth-pop outfit ABC, a band which kick-started a new pop sound fusing dancefloor finesse with a post-punk attitude.

But Martin's rise to fame was not a traditional one. He met future ABC bandmates Mark White and Stephen Singleton while interviewing them for a fanzine he edited. The three got on so well that Martin was invited to join the band and play keyboard.

"We were joking around about me being in a band and then they said, 'come on then'. So I jumped in their van and went off up to Middlesborough with them and was on stage that evening," Martin explained.

ABC released their first single, Tears Are Not Enough, in the autumn of 1981. More hits followed in rapid succession including the likes of Poison Arrow, The Look Of Love and All Of My Heart. On its release in May 1982, their debut album The Lexicon Of Love crashed straight into the album charts at number one.

Throughout the 80s and early 90s, ABC released four further albums but then endured a four-year hiatus before re-emerging in 1998 for an arena tour with Culture Club and The Human League.

The tour was the first of its kind since the 80s and coincided with a worldwide release of re-mastered versions of their hit albums.

One of the highlights of the past three decades, Martin said, was joining Robbie Williams to open the show on his European tour in 2001, and then performing the band's Lexicon Of Love in its entirety to a sell-out audience at the Royal Albert Hall in 2009 - some 27 years after its debut release.

"Bringing it home with a full orchestra to a sold out place - it's one of the memories to beat," he added. "It's totally different playing it out with 80 people behind you."

To date, ABC have released eight studio albums and enjoyed success on both sides of the Atlantic, with 10 UK top 40 singles as well as five US top 40 hits.

But there is no doubt that the band's initial hits from the early 1980s will be the ones that audiences at GuilFest will want to hear when ABC headline The Good Time Guide stage on Friday, July 13.

"Those kind of songs have stuck with people and I think they will keep buying them because for nostalgic reasons," Martin said.

"Technology and the internet has helped with that. You no longer have to worry about going into a shop to buy a single, you can download it without anyone knowing their embarrassing guilty pleasure."